Matthew Leuenberger has supported the commonly held belief that young ruckmen take longer to develop in the AFL system.

Leuenberger himself is an example of how ruckmen generally need more time before they become ‘match ready’.

While he is now widely regarded as one of the competition’s premier big men, people often forget that the 25-year-old managed just 22 senior matches across his first three seasons.

In fact, he has played nine less career AFL games than midfield teammates Jack Redden and Daniel Rich, who were drafted two years later.

“I think it’s easier for a young midfielder to come in and influence a game as opposed to a young ruckman,” Leuenberger told Melbourne radio station SEN on Wednesday morning.

“It’s a very contested position and you need the strength of a few pre-seasons to compete. You’ve got to be patient with them.”

“It certainly took me a long time to compete, and we’ve got Billy Longer, who was a top draft pick and is just finding his feet.

“I can’t think of too many that have come in and influenced the competition from the get-go.”

Looking ahead to the Round 16 match against North Melbourne, Leuenberger also echoed the sentiments of his coach and teammates earlier this week by stating that his side needed to become more consistent.

“We’ve obviously had two great wins against Essendon and Geelong. The other teams we’ve beaten have been Gold Coast twice and Melbourne,” Leuenberger said.

“A few games throughout the year we’ve been quite uncompetitive and have been blown away by 50-plus points.

“In those games, we feel like we’ve been in the contest for three quarters, but then would have a slip-up for a quarter which sort of got us out of contention for the win.

“We feel like we play good football, but not consistently enough to continue on and win games.”